The expected buyer of a troubled downtown Birmingham luxury condominium building has passed on the property purchase after all.

Fadi Nassar said Monday that he was "seriously looking at the building, but based on our due diligence, we felt the purchase price didn't warrant it and passed on it."

"For the right number, we would be interested," Nassar said.

The Nassar purchase price was expected to be $7.9 million, the Detroit Free Press reported in May in a story about the building, which was developed by Joey Jonna of Jonna Luxury Homes. Jonna did not return an email this morning seeking comment.

He reportedly owes $2.4 million on a $7.3 million construction loan that he defaulted on, plus another $80,000 in property taxes, JC Reindl reported.

According to marketing materials from Farmington Hills-based M. Shapiro Real Estate Group, the court-appointed receiver, there are eight partially built condos up for sale in the building. The units are on the second floor (five units) and third floor (three units) with a total square footage of 27,363 square feet (3,420 square feet on average).

I left multiple messages with M. Shapiro but have not heard back.

Two of the 10 condominiums in the development sold, and the commercial space is occupied.

When it was announced in June 2014, the project was expected to cost $20 million and top downtown Birmingham's residential market with sale prices of $1,000 per square foot or more.

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CoStar Group Inc.

The former Varsity Shop property at 277 Pierce St. in downtown Birmingham is owned by Bloomfield Hills-based Kojaian Management Corp.

Varsity Shop demolition expected to begin soon

More from downtown Birmingham: The Varsity Shop property at 277 Pierce St. may start coming down soon, the city says.

It is owned by Bloomfield Hills-based Kojaian Management Co., which said it is awaiting a permit from the city.

Kevin Byrnes, the city's spokesman, said earlier this month that "indications are from the developers that they would like to start demolition/construction as soon as the outdoor dining decks are closed for the season. Those dates though, are for the developers to determine."

Contingent on weather, the last day for outdoor dining is Nov. 15, Byrnes said.

The October 2018 Downtown Parking Plan says the development is expected to consist of 2,900 square feet of first-floor retail, 11,400 square feet of office on the second, third and fourth floors, and a fifth-floor penthouse.

Photo

CoStar Group Inc.

A rendering of the proposed five-story redevelopment of the former Varsity Shop property that is slated for demolition in downtown Birmingham.

Whenever it starts, between prep work and the actual demolition, the process is expected to take about a month and a half, Byrnes said.

"The developers are close to getting permits to demolish the existing building and start the foundation work on what will be the new mixed-use," Byrnes said.

According to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based real estate information service, Kojaian paid $3.15 million for the Varsity Shop property in September 2016. The Birmingham Historic District Commission approved the building's demolition in August 2016.

Marc Secontine, managing partner of the limited partnership, which owns the Varsity Shop sporting goods retailer and the roughly 8,400-square-foot building at Pierce and Merrill streets, said in April 2016 that a burst boiler pipe destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of merchandise and prompted the relocation of the store to 623 S. Adams Rd. in Birmingham.

Photo

Kirk Pinho/Crain's Detroit Business

On the left, you see the Illuminated Mural in February; on the right, you see the damaged mural Tuesday morning.

'Bleeding rainbow' mural damaged, will be repaired

The Metro Times reported in April about damage to the Illuminated Mural — sometimes known as the "bleeding rainbow" mural — at 2937 E. Grand Blvd. in Detroit's Milwaukee Junction neighborhood caused by construction.

I missed that story a few months ago and noticed the damage this morning.

A spokesman for Detroit-based The Platform LLC, which is redeveloping the vacant building in a $16 million project known as Chroma, said Tuesday that the company has been in touch with muralist Katherine Craig about restoring the areas that had been damaged.

"They've made it clear that the mural isn't going anywhere," said Dan Austin, senior account executive for the Detroit-based public relations firm VanDyke Horn.

I emailed Craig Tuesday morning for comment.

From around the web

I took time off and largely disconnected from the news last week, but here are a couple of pieces of real estate news that caught my eye.

You're doing yourself an extreme disservice if you're not reading this Brian Goldstone story in The New Republic, "The New American Homeless."